PureInsight | January 20, 2002
The following episode took place on the bus we chartered to take us to the Florida Fa conference. A practitioner gave the driver of the bus audiotapes of Master’s lectures and asked him to play the tapes over the speakers of the bus. Another practitioner who had been listening the lectures on her own objected, saying that in Western countries, a most basic etiquette is to ask for everyone’s permission before using any public facility, and she should not forcefully impose her individual will upon others. The first practitioner did not think that it was a big deal. She thought since everyone on the bus was a practitioner, wanting to play Master’s lectures on the bus is not the same as forcefully imposing one’s will upon others. Neither side was willing to give ground. Finally this “conflict” was resolved with everyone raising his hand to vote.
This reminded me of a story that I heard two years ago. It happened at a Dalian practice site during the early days of the Fa’s introduction to the public. Practitioners at this practice site normally started the exercises every day at 5 A.M. When daylight saving time was about to end, due to various reasons, some practitioners suggested changing the starting time to 5:30 A.M. Other practitioners insisted on keeping the old schedule, and both sides refused to give ground. The assistant did not know what to do. As there were not too many practitioners at the practice site, it was not realistic to break the people into two groups and start the exercises at two different times. In addition, having two separate groups would cause interference between them. What should he do? The assistant thought of the solution of meeting each side half the way and suggested starting the exercises at 5:15 AM. It turned out that neither side was happy with the compromise that he offered.
This assistant couldn’t eat or sleep after returning home. He got up to study the Fa at night. As he studied and studied, it was as if a light bulb had been turned on in his head, and he reached a sudden realization. The next morning, he said to everyone at the practice site, “We are the cultivators of Dafa and not members of an organization of ordinary people. What are we cultivating? Aren’t we cultivating to ‘attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism?’ (From “Non-omission in Buddha-Nature” in Essentials for Further Advancement) Aren’t those who insist on starting at either 5 A.M. or 5:30 A.M. doing so because they want to make things easier for themselves and preserve their own benefits or ideas? If we can’t even be considerate of other people while doing the exercises, how could we ‘attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism?’” His words made everyone become clearheaded instantly. When the assistant then asked those who wanted to start the exercises at 5 AM what time the exercises should start, everyone replied, “Any time is fine.” When he asked those who wanted to start at 5:30 AM the same question, everyone also said, “Anytime is fine.” The conflict was naturally resolved.
This story has always served as a personal example for me on how I should search inward during my individual cultivation. As practitioners, we should search inward when faced with any conflict. But if we only search inward while standing at our current level, we will find that we are always right. Therefore, oftentimes we cannot find the problem despite going through the searching process. In the end, we will end up staying at superficial levels when we criticize ourselves, saying things such as “my tone of voice was not compassionate enough” or “my state of mind was not quite right.” In reality, if we truly want to find our problems, we must jump out of our current level. In order to accomplish that, we must improve our understandings of the Fa. In order to improve our understandings of the Fa, we must study the Fa.
Speaking from another angle, when there are conflicts at a practice site, the assistant must have a clear understanding of the Fa. If the assistant himself cannot keep on improving his own understanding of the Fa, he will try to resolve conflicts as ordinary people do, such as offering compromises, taking votes, arbitrating the dispute, offering consolation, and so on. These methods that everyday people use might be effective sometimes, but they are actually harmful to cultivators. Similar to taking medicine, they offer temporary comfort, but the test itself still has not been passed. If a practitioner has too many tests piled up, it is possible that he might not be able to continue with his cultivation.
Gong back to the episode that took place on the bus, when the conflict arose, I thought that I was very clear on what the whole situation was all about, and it was not my tribulation. So from beginning to end, I did not say anything at all. Even when practitioners came to ask my thoughts on this issue later on, I just smiled and said nothing at all. In “Lecture at the Western United States Fa Conference,” Master Li said, “I often tell you about situations like this: When two people have a conflict both should look for the causes within themselves, ‘What problem do I have here?’ Each should search for his own problem. If a third person witnesses the conflict between the two, I would say that it’s not accidental for this third person to see it, and he should also think it over: ‘Why did I see their conflict? Is it because I still have some shortcomings?’ Only in this way can it be good.” When I looked back and thought of the self-satisfied way that I had behaved, and compared my behavior with the attitude that the Dalian assistant in the earlier story had in being responsible toward the Fa and fellow practitioners, I was overwhelmed with feelings of shame. Was my understanding on this issue truly the highest it could possible go? Were there even higher Fa principles in that situation? Why couldn’t I share my understandings and discuss the matter with everyone else? I suddenly realized that I was actually also a part of this test. There was this notion in my head – since I am not an assistant, this matter has nothing to do with me. But our assistant happened not to be on the bus. In Mainland China, most of the assistants were arrested shortly after July 20, 1999. Haven’t many ordinary practitioners stepped forward? If his article “Further Elimination of Attachments” in Essentials for Further Advancement, Master Li said, “I want to have a loose administration simply because you cannot let go of ordinary human things and so will feel uneasy in your work. Dafa belongs to the entire universe, and not to any one, insignificant individual. Whoever does the work is spreading Dafa. It is not important whether it should be done by you or by others. Are you going to bring to a paradise this attachment that you cannot let go of, and contend with Buddhas?” I realized that in Dafa, “contending” and “ignoring” are both attachments. As a practitioner, whenever any conflict arises, regardless of whether it is directly related with myself or not, I must place myself in it, find my own problems, and “strive forward together” with all the other practitioners. Through this experience, I gained a better understanding of what Master said in his article “Clearheadedness,” “As a matter of fact, the person in charge of a center is first of all a leader in studying the Fa. If a person does not study the Fa well himself, he will not do a good job in his work.” In reality, during such a special period of time of Fa-rectification that is today, every one of us could serve the function of an assistant in specific situations or time periods. I realized that in reality, Master Li wrote this article for every single disciple.
In his newest article, “Fa-Lecture at the Florida Conference in the US,” Master Li said, “Also, you need to pay attention to one issue: you are Dafa disciples, so you should always look within whenever you run into problems--it's guaranteed that many of the problems are your problems, whether you want to look at yourself or not, or whether you think of them or not. In the future, when you see the truth, you'll realize that everything had a reason.” The Florida trip reminded me again that whenever any conflict arises, no matter what the situation is, we must find the real cause on the basis of the Fa. Especially since right now is the final stage of the Last Havoc, we must make solid improvement through every test and tribulation. Only then will we not let down of Master’s benevolence and arduous salvation.
The above is my personal understanding. Please kindly point out and correct any mistakes.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/1/10/13272.html
